Switching sides

This map of the world shows what countries drive on each side of the road. I'm surprised at how many countries have switched sides, but it does seem that the trend is towards driving on the right (Sweden recently switched). Though why Namibia and Angola switched to maintain opposite driving sides seems a bit peculiar.

How parking requirements distort urban design

This week's featured property in the LA Times is a weird house in Venice, CA that looks like a modernist structure placed on an old bungalow. The owners wanted to tear down the old house and build from scratch, but if they did they would have had to put in the required garage for parking. The space devoted to parking reduced the available living space, so they just designed and built the new structure on top. Whether or not you like the design, it was a compromise solution because of required parking that the owners didn't want or apparently need.

Image source: (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Are the kids of today the drivers of tomorrow?

The LA Times has a piece that discusses a new survey by J.D. Power which suggests that today's American youth are less car obsessed that the kids of yore. This isn't that surprising since this trend has been evident for some time in Japan and, to a lesser degree, Western Europe. In developing countries there is still a strong desire to own a car as income increases.

I like that the survey looked as social media and networks to make inferences. I think the role of social networks and travel attitudes is poorly theorized and understood. Can public policy target a few influential people who will affect the attitudes and behavior of others through their social networks? That sounds a little clique-ish, but I think there is something to it.

Will the attitudes towards car ownership translate into greater transit ridership and other alternatives? If so, we should quickly invest in alternatives to driving. Or does ambivalence point to a greater problem for luxury cars, as people will still buy cars but more for utility than social status.

I think people will still buy cars, but these newish attitudes about vehicles bodes well for the Prius, Insight and other efficient cars that are not luxurious. Most hybrids and other efficient cars are now simple (except for the drivetrain) and well built, and are generally much cheaper to buy and operate. If utility is the primary factor I suspect price will be a much larger concern for buyers. And if price is a concern, people will buyer smaller, more efficient cars.

Making it fun to walk

Volkswagen has an initiative where it is trying to get people to walk and take the stairs more for health benefits. This video shows what happened when they turned a staircase in to a piano. People took the stairs! 66% more according to them. There is no question that urban design matters. How to work it into policy is less clear, but these inexpensive ways to make walking fun and give a unique status to train stations (or neighborhoods) are well worth pursuing.

All hotel keys should function as transit passes

Bangkok's Chaophya Park Hotel has implemented the best innovation in hotel keys since they started locking doors. The keys are also valid as one-day transit passes. This is a great idea, and goes a long way toward making the transit system more friendly to visitors (and as I recall the system is pretty easy to navigate). Every hotel should do this.

The IRS still hates bicycles

Because I lead a life of excitement and intrigue, I was reading through the IRS publication that outlines the transportation related fringe benefits allowed under current tax law. These are benefits that employees can claim with pre-tax income, thus reduces their and their employers overall tax burden.

The big news last year was that employees can now claim $20 per month in bicycle commuting expenses. This was hailed as a step towards equalizing how bicycles are treated in the confusing world of subsidies, cross-subsidies and transportation finance. As a symbolic measure, this is a good step. As a practical measure, not so much. For instance, each and every employee in the US can receive up to $120 per month in pre-tax transit benefits AND $230 per month in pre-tax parking benefits. So if you pay for parking at a park and ride lot, you can get money for parking and transit, for instance. But with bikes, once you claim your $20 per month you become ineligible for transit or parking benefits. This reduces the incentive to bike and use transit for a commute trip, or park and bike, or other multi-modal bike combinations.

If you calculate the tax savings by taking a transit or parking pass, they far exceed the total amount--not just the tax savings--available through the bike expenses. There is still a tax incentive to use modes other than bikes.

Huzzah! Mayor Bloomberg has a parking vision

NYC's Mayor Michael Bloomberg has taking a huge step towards improving traffic, raising revenue for the city and really irritating his constituents. He wrote an op-ed in today's Daily News that explains how he wants the city to adopt new technologies that enable people to pay parking fees with their mobile device, find available parking spaces via online maps and make paying tickets easier. We'll see. Hopefully he goes beyond these technological fixes, which will really just catch NYC up with most major non-U.S. cities on these issues. These technologies offer new and improved ways of managing parking. They might also just be expensive ways to do what we are doing now.

He cleverly avoids mentioning how the plan in Riverdale is to raise the price of parking. That's the part that will enrage his constituents. I wouldn't have brought it up, either.